Monday, December 28, 2009

Too early to plan? Never!

I realized I hadn't taken any front yard pictures for awhile. I think because the flowers have finished and I haven't quite perfected my "winter interest" I thought garden pictures wouldn't be very interesting. But then I started thinking about my Spring plans and how I've already started a to do list. The second week of winter isn't too early to start planning for Spring is it? I didn't think so.The front yard is one of the areas I plan to start working on first, mostly because I can do it by myself. The main plan is to get rid of more grass and make the flower beds bigger.

This is the butterfly garden I enlarged last year. Of course now I wish it was bigger and so I will be pulling it back another foot or so. (Remember those hanging pulp pots belong to my neighbor, and still drive me crazy :) )

In this corner of the garden it looks a little wild and full of bare sticks. This spot is to the left of the butterfly garden and looking in from the street side. The birds seem to love this area now and are always hopping around looking for food. Hopefully this will be the last year of having that patch of grass. Some of it will be removed to enlarge the flower beds, the rest will be a stone courtyard to sit and enjoy the front garden from.

The bed I built for my impulse buy of Rose 'Gertrude Jekyll' was really never planted, I'm working on my plan for here. Since it's close to the front entrance I've been planting many fragrant flowers in the other part of the bed here. Peonies, roses, lilies and lavender are some that add a nice scent to the air.

Looking down from Gertrude's bed I'm not very happy with the line I created. This was done during one of our very hot spells last summer and I think I must have been delirious from the heat to think this looked good. My plan is to connect the the closest point to the white stone area to the right of the birdbath. I'd like to have one soft curved edge instead of the crazy zigzag that's here now.

The other part of the front yard we are not decided upon is the area of grass between the flower bed and the sidewalk. This would be the only grass left in our yard. Do we leave it so the kids can play on it? Do we add flower beds in it? Do we rip it all out? The only thing we have agreed upon is that at some point there will be a white picket fence around the edge of the front yard.Have you been out doing your Spring planning yet?

41 comments:

A belated Merry Christmas - I hope you had a wonderful time with your family!One of my Christmas presents was a book on planning your garden, so maybe - just maybe, I'll actually get round to doing some proper planning this year!!!

Ha! What a lesson about impulsively buying plants! I think I would be a millionaire if I could take back all of the plants I brought home before I prepped a spot for them. Now they just mock me, dead in their pots:(

Catherine, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.No it is never too early to make plans.I am planing a new bed and changes also.A stone courtyard and bigger beds sounds wonderful. My front beds are in the shade so I long for your beds ;-)I love your stone borders and I really need to add some in mine so I can amend the soil. Wishing you a New Year filled with love, health, family, friends, and flowers.

Hi Catherine, Hope you all had a very nice Christmas. No, it's not too early to be planning for Spring! These sunny winter afternoons are perfect for looking at the garden beds from different angles and deciding what changes to make. We did away with all of our grass a few years back and it's nice not to have to mow!!!

I love that you have lots of plans. Every time I bring up plans to cut out more beds, make major changes, my husband says, "It looks fine the way it is!" Grrr...I always get gardening books from the library to get me through the gloomy wintery weather, with big plans for spring!

It will be nice to look back on these photos in June or July to see how beautiful it is compared to the beginning of the year. I am gonna get some photos up too of my 'bare' place. I am looking forward to some beautiful gardens thanks to you Tatyana and Raingardener.

Now that you can see the bones of the garden, it's the perfect time to start planning. With the holidays almost gone, the cold dark winter months ahead give us a great time to sit down with old photos and rethink what we did the year before. I'm doing the same thing, and planning new areas. Just over 80 days til spring, barely 2 months.

Hi Catherine, I think your spring plans looks great! Your frontyard will be so beautiful, as the rest of your garden already is =) I do see why you dislike those hanging pots by the neighbours "uouhhh" I'm alway planing for new areas in the garden. Today I've ordered seeds for some new perennials and vegetables and in my head I'm digging out the Carpenters "veggie-garden" (he likes to grow potatoes) making a new are wher we can sit with stones on the ground and a pergola with grapes surrrounded by a bed looking a bit like yours with that walled edge around it... Now I was carried away by daydreaming. Oh, I wish spring will come soon =P Happiest of New years to you and your family / gittan

I say leave a bit of grass to give the eye a respite. Small and easily weedwhacked is the best kind. No spring planning here, working on inside. I wish you the best for the new year and planning. Looking forward to seeing how you change it. Delirious?:)

I agree with Tom, it's the perfect time to start planning. Your plans sound wonderful. I am thinking of rehabbing a couple backyard beds, trimming back the grass area & have already added a couple new plants to the mix.

I've always been interested in different types of edging that people use. I like the pavers you used in your garden - can you tell me if they are laid dry, or did you use cement of some sort? Also, I noticed that some seemed to be stacked 2-high, and others just 1-high - what made you decide? Do you use a string trimmer after you mow to keep things so nicely manicured?

Oh, yes ma'am! I never stop thinking about spring gardens. I took it upon myself a few weeks ago to surround a flower garden with layered bricks. Remember Robert the Carpenter who came and put up my fence and pavilion? Well, he came by and said it looked terrible. So he will be building wooden flower bed borders. I personally don't like grass. I have it out front, where I never go save for walking to the mailbox. And out at the side of my garden home that doesn't have any windows overlooking it. On the side where I spend time and garden, it's gravel and flagstone and garden space for me!Brenda

Catherine,I could say the same for one of the beds I made last summer - the line of it doesn't look good to me now no matter how I look at it. ;) Funny how that is. Sometimes I think my eyes play tricks on me. Or, maybe it's just that I am never satisfied until I do something 3 times!! Ha!!

I will have to take a leaf out of your book and get down to some constructive planning and list making soon Catherine. Here's it has been too icy to venture out in the garden but hopefully I will be able put my thinking cap on before long. Good luck with all your new plans. I look forward to hearing more about them in 2010 :)

We were in the backyard yesterday to place a bottle tree we received for Christmas. I didn't really make any plans for the future because all I can see right now is the need for now work. Weeds and leaves are taking over my beds but right now I don't have the will to get out there and start working. Plus we have had so much rain my whole yard is mushy.

I can't wait to see your plans implemented this spring! I am working on planting some roses in January. Also, I would like to add some more perennials. As soon as the hustle and bustle of Christmas is over, it frees my brain to think about what I love....my garden!

Mary Anne - These stones are laid dry, they have a lip on the back side which helps them to fit together. They are all 2 high but after years of being there, they have sunk down some. I will be trying to get them more level when I redo the edge. Yes, we have a string trimmer which we edge with, there's a very small "trench" between the grass and the edgers. These edgers are very easy to put together, just time consuming getting them all level. Good luck with your project!

Never too early Catherine....I have been planning my Summer beds for weeks - I wish my life away! Ive already mentally 'done' spring, I am onto summer! I had a happy accident of some white swansdown poppies (papaver somniferum) self seeding to another part of the garden this year, and they were so impressive, that I decided to plant them in several more spots. I also had a few nice pink ones so have saved the seeds and bought a few more colours. Good luck with your Gertrude Jekyll, its my favourite smelling rose, and grows as a climber in my garden here in southern England-was very impressive this year. I do wish my life away like every gardener and say that next year will be better (and the year after that and that....) Hope you and your garden have a good 2010, best wishes Betty xx

You are an early bird. Good for you. I have to get thinking about spring time also. I also have too much grass that can be turned into flower beds. I am sure that will happen this spring. At least some of it. You are inspiring.

"The main plan is to get rid of more grass and make the flower beds bigger."

Couldn't have said it better! Your pictures are lovely, your garden still looks great (compared to being completely buried in the snow, like mine). It's fun to plan and will be great to get started again. :)

I do a lot of planning ~ it's the follow thru that sometimes falters! I thought you were busy last summer, I can't imagine you working any harder. I like the idea of the courtyard. I keep thinking about something similar for my backyard but don't know if I have the guts to rip up all the grass? I have a small strip of grass between my front garden and the street too. I am planning on leaving that alone but if you decide differently, I'm sure it will look great.

I laughed when I read about your neighbors tacky pots. I'll trade you for my neighbors collections of stuff: bikes, playground equiptment, wheelbarrows, etc. My hubby made me keep some grass for the kids, otherwise I would have ripped it all out. Tearing out most of it did reduce the yard maintenance quite a bit though. Good luck with your planning.

I am stuck inside too, but I am planning some changes in my garden. I want things simplified, so that maintenance is easier. I can see several areas, as I go to and from the lumber yard, the paint store, the window screen maker.....I am looking forward to being in the garden, and at night, I doodle a little on the planning pad, and jot down notes of what I want changed.

I love that you have pictures of what you want changed. I need to rush out and take a few pictures, because soon, Spring will change things on her own, and I might be dissuaded from doing what I want!

Yesmam, I have got to write things down as I think of them...go ahead and put 5 or 6 sheets of newspaper on the grass that you want removed and put mulch or leaves or something to hold it down, by spring it will be ready to plant!!

I just reread your post, now that I'm awake ;). I like keeping some grass, even if it is a narrow strip, I think it looks good and has a welcoming feel. We are also thinking of fencing the front (possibly wraught iron) to make it feel more private and garden like. I am constantly reshaping beds, like you I have the 'I can't believe I thought that looked good' moments. I don't use edging, just mulch, so it's pretty easy to reshape.

I love the stone courtyard idea, I look forward to seeing pictures of it as it develops. Happy Planning!

The lawn area near the house looks very restful to the eye and like a place where children could play. I'd feel better if they were not out on that strip beside the street with some shrubbery and plants between your view of them. I sound like a grandmother, don't I? Maybe I watch too much TV news.

It is so fun to plan and dream, even if it isn't time to get to work. I have a lot of things planned and reworked in my head and then it becomes so easy to start to work. You basic bones of the garden look good and you do have a few green things there. No snow?

It's hard to daydream about gardening without inserting a few plans into them.

Personally, I don't really believe in front lawns since it's RARE I ever see children playing in them. More often they play in the backyard or on the playground. My plan is to rip up the rest of the front lawn and replace it with garden plots. I'll keep a small patch of liriope "lawn" in the backyard.

Sounds like you have some great plans. I would love to create a garden with zero grass and have areas of interest. I love your photo below the comment section...how beautiful! I can't wait until spring and summer. I guess we are all gardeners in progress...:)

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Butterfly Garden Summer 2011

About Me

I'm a "retired LPN" now a stay at home Mom to two great girls. I love gardening and all I've learned from it, both in the garden and about myself. Any time in the garden is like "therapy". Not only do I garden for myself and my family but also for the birds that visit. Cottage gardens, woodland gardens and water gardening are some of my favorite styles of gardens. I love gardening and how it has brought our family closer.
I am currently enrolled in the WSU extension Master Gardener program, something I have wanted to do for years!